This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior patent application EP 03011202.3 filed May 16, 2003, and prior patent application EP 03078286.6, filed Oct. 17, 2003, the entire contents of each which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to systems and methods for searching for information in a computer system.
II. Background Information
Computer systems with a user interface may include a control for inputting search criteria. The search criteria can be used by the computer system during a search operation in which data is retrieved from a database. Typically, the result of the search is shown in a visual result interface on a display as a list of items. The user interface also includes controls for a user to select at least one element from the results. The selected results are then displayed in a visual selection interface as a vertical list of items. In such a system, the visual result interface and the visual selection interface are vertically positioned in different positions with respect to each other on the user interface, such as one positioned on top of the other. The visual result interface and visual selection interface are horizontally located at the same position.
However, such a system is not easy to use since as the results and/or the selection of the results increases, and if there is a lot of information displayed for each item, the vertical dimensions of the list will increase. Depending on the vertical size of the display, three may be an insufficient space to display the result and/or the selection simultaneously. In such a system, the visual result interface and visual search interface can be overlapped in the vertical direction to display as much of the results or selection as possible. However, such a solution has the disadvantage that at least a portion of the items of one of the visual interfaces is obscured by the other visual interface and thus is not visible to the user.